A door-opening and closing mechanism for vessels, especially for pressure and vacuum vessels of the type manufactured by Xorella AG of Wettingen, Switzerland, is known. In this known device, the closure mechanism is swiveled about a stationary shaft arranged to be parallel to the vessel axis. In practice, this device has been found to be useful for small vessels with diameters of up to about two meters with correspondingly small covers. With larger vessel diameters, however, space requirements, for instance as to height, are excessive. Also, large torques appear during door operation which act on the vessel and which are liable to lead to its distortion. In addition, with large covers of weights of 2 to 3 tons, the masses and frictional forces involved are large enough to be liable to cause uneven or jerky opening of the cover.
Opening devices for the shifting and tilting of doors are known, for example, in connection with the operation of garage doors which, upon being opened, not only can be swung open like a door but, at the same time, can also be slid away, so that with the doors open, they come to rest against or proximate the garage ceiling.